The Miss Mystic Falls Runner Up and the Frog
by lillypilly11
Summary: Damon gets on Bonnie's bad side for the last time, and a witch will do what a witch has to do. Poor Damon, it's not easy being green...
1. Chapter 1

Notes: This is set now-ish in the current show timeline, so sort of following Rose/Katerina.

For the record, I am actually working on something longer and a little more serious than the fluff I've been coming out with lately. But for now, more fluff! And yes, the title means what you think it means. This really is a story about Damon being turned into a frog. I'm just warning you.

* * *

_**The Miss Mystic Falls Runner-Up and the Frog**_

_**...  
**_

"Seriously, ya got nothing, is that all you have to say for yourself?" Damon said.

They were on Bonnie's front porch; she hadn't wanted to invite him inside for obvious reasons. Now she was regretting agreeing to talk to him at all. It wasn't her fault she couldn't help with the whole moonstone curse thing, and she'd already told Elena she couldn't do it. But of course Damon wouldn't let it go at just that.

Arms wrapped around herself, she replied, "What do you want from me?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about _anything _that might actually help us with this little _life or death_ situation we're dealing with right now as opposed to the giant load of _squat_ you've come up with so far. Are you a witch or not?"

"Yes, I'm a witch, but in case you haven't forgotten, I've been a witch for about six months now. I don't have all the answers. Almost all my information comes from Emily, and she never had to deal with any of this stuff."

"What about your beloved 'Grams', she was a witch, a much better witch than you're shaping up to be - didn't she leave any of her old witchy juj-ju stuff around?"

Her jaw dropped as he spoke. She could not believe his nerve. "Do _not_ talk to me about Grams. Don't you _dare_."

"Oh, whatever. This was a waste of time. You know, you'd think you'd be just a little more helpful, what with it being your BFF's life on the line and all. Guess Elena's gonna die because Sabrina over here's still on her training wheels." With a last look of disgust thrown her way, he turned to go.

She was so mad. Beyond mad. As if she didn't feel bad enough about not being able to help Elena as it was, and here he was just coming to rub it in, and worse - taunt her about her grandmother's death.

She couldn't move, she couldn't yell, she was so furious at him. She just stared at his back as he took the steps down off the porch, crossing her yard as he headed for his car parked on the curb.

The words came to her almost as if out of nowhere, and she found herself muttering them under her breath before she even realised what she was doing.

Afterward, she would think about how she had never _really_ believed that the spell would come to anything.

But back in the present, one moment she was staring balefully at the back of Damon Salvatore's head, and the next she had finished uttering the last syllable of the incantation, and there was a brief and wholly unexpected flash of light right in the middle of her front lawn.

...

He felt something seize hold of him, like some great force that gripped his entire body at once. Waves of power racketed through him and he convulsed with pain too great for him to even scream. This was it; he was dying. Suddenly everything went very bright, and then everything went utterly dark, and it stopped.

Whatever had just happened to him was gone as if it had never been.

But it was still dark, and as he came back to himself he realised there was something heavy covering him. He tried to move and it was like he was buried under a big tarp, or some kind of thick, rough cloth. Had a marquee tent collapsed on him? That didn't make any sense. Last thing he remembered, he'd been talking to Bonnie and then...

Wait, what had the witch done to him? She'd done something, obviously, some kind of spell. Vindictive little thing. The question was, _what_?

He struggled more, trying to escape the seemingly endless mounds of whatever it was surrounding him on all sides. That was when he heard someone, Bonnie, calling his name. He couldn't have missed it, she was shouting loud enough. He opened his mouth to call back but all that came out was a rough croak. He tried clearing his throat but it didn't help, and he gave up.

He redoubled his efforts to escape, crawling between the stiff layers, feeling his irritation at this bizarre situation growing with every inch covered, till he finally caught sight of light ahead. He made his way towards it as quickly as he could.

After what felt like hours in the strange, cloying darkness, he emerged into the light.

And that's when things got _really_ weird.


	2. Chapter 2

**_The Miss Mystic Falls Runner-Up and the Frog_**

**_part two_**

**_...  
_**

Elena and Caroline had been having an emergency study session at Elena's house that afternoon after school. Both of them had had a lot to deal with lately, and neither of them were exactly keeping up with their classes.

Now with everything going on, all the danger and stress, all Elena had wanted to do was something normal, like homework.

So that's what they were doing, sitting on the couch in her living room, when she received a sudden urgent-sounding text from Bonnie. It read, '911 WHERE R U?'

She showed Caroline, the two girls exchanging an apprehensive look before she texted back that they were at her house.

There was nothing further from Bonnie. Both Elena and Caroline tried to call her cell, but there was no answer, and they could only assume the other girl was on her way there.

"Maybe she just realised she hasn't even started her Political Studies paper yet, either," Caroline suggested in an attempt at optimism.

Elena wasn't so sure. It had just been one awful thing after another lately, ever since Katherine had returned. She realised it was useless to attempt any more math problems, so she set her books aside and she and Caroline sat in tense silence for the next five minutes as they waited for the other shoe to drop.

They heard the car screech into the driveway outside, and they both were about to get up and go to the door but it turned out there was no need. Bonnie made it from her car up to the front door and burst into the house in about four seconds flat.

Inside, she looked around frantically before seeing Caroline and Elena both turned around on the couch watching her with twin looks of surprise and concern.

"Bonnie what is going on?" Elena said as her agitated friend hurried into the room.

"Did someone die?" Caroline added. "Oh god, I hate this town."

"No!" Bonnie said. "No, no one is dead just - you just have to tell me I'm not crazy."

She came around the couch and dropped something on the coffee table before wiping her hands furiously on her jeans.

They all looked down at the thing on the coffee table. It was a frog.

"Okay, just tell me, is that a frog?" Bonnie demanded, her tone becoming increasingly panicked. "It's a frog, right? I'm not seeing things? I'm not, like, going completely nuts?"

Caroline spoke first. "Yes, it's a frog, and it's disgusting! Why do you have it?"

Bonnie paced frantically back and forth, biting her thumb anxiously. "I didn't mean to do it, I swear, I mean I didn't even know I _could_ do it." She stopped in front of them and stared.

Elena frowned at her friend. Bonnie was obviously struggling to say something, but couldn't quite get the words out. "Bonnie? It's okay, you can tell us, what is it? And what does it have to do with -"

"_I turnedDamonintoafrog!_"

"What?"

"A frog!" She pointed. "That frog! I turned Damon into a freaking _frog_."

Caroline was the first to laugh. "Okay, this is hilarious. _What_ have you been smoking, Bonnie Bennett?"

"I'm not on drugs. I'm not crazy. At least, I don't think I am. Oh god, am I crazy? I was - I was really mad at him, and I said the words and I didn't really think it would work but then... _poof_."

"'Poof'?" Elena and Caroline echoed in tandem.

"Yeah. _Poof._ I mean literally he was standing in front of me one second, and the next there was a pile of clothes on the ground and for a minute I thought I'd turned him to dust or something and I was freaking out and then... _that_ hopped out and I freaked out _more_."

"Okay, this is a joke. This is a joke, right?" Caroline said.

"...Damon?" Elena ventured, feeling ridiculous for even entertaining the idea as she warily inspected the confused-looking frog still sitting in the middle of the table. "Is... that you?"

The frog opened its mouth and for a second looked like it was choking. The three of them leaned forward, drawn in by the possibility that this could actually be happening. The frog suddenly let out a strange croaking noise that somehow managed to convey a tone of extreme unhappiness.

Then the frog leaped for Bonnie's throat.

All three girls screamed and jumped back, Elena and Caroline out of surprise and an instinctual fear of small jumping creatures, Bonnie because there was a frog scrabbling at her chest, trying to find purchase with its small sticky feet. Flailing at it, she managed to fling it away from her.

The frog landed across the room on the floor where it lay in a small green heap.

There was a stunned silence. Then:

"Oh my god, Bonnie, did you just kill froggy-Damon?" Caroline cried.

"He came at me! What was I supposed to do?"

"Uh, not kill him?"

"Guys," Elena admonished, holding up a hand. They fell quiet as she gingerly approached the fallen amphibian. When she was close enough she could see his little sides moving rapidly in and out, which she took as breathing. "I don't think he's dead." But he still wasn't moving. "Damon?" she crouched down beside him, feeling even more ridiculous than before. "If you really are Damon, can you please move or... or croak or something so we know you're okay?"

It was stupid. There was no way this frog was Damon.

Yes, vampires and werewolves and witches were real, but this was taking things a little too far.

The frog let out a disgruntled sort of croak, and then pulled his outstretched limbs back underneath his body and looked right up at her.

Human eyes met frog's. And she started to think it wasn't so unbelievable after all.

"Okay," she breathed, incredibly weirded out, "If you're Damon, can you climb onto my hand?" She extended one shaking hand to the floor and the frog crawled over her fingers to sit in her palm.

"Whoa," said Caroline.

"I can't believe I'm not crazy," said Bonnie. "Insanity just seemed so much more likely."

Elena stood up and turned to her. "You better tell us exactly what happened. And then you better tell us you know how to reverse it."

"That's the thing," Bonnie said. "I'm not so sure I do."

Her eyes sprang warily to the frog, as if expecting another flying attack.

Elena cupped both hands protectively around the frog - although which one of them she was protecting, she wasn't sure.

"Well, while we're figuring this out," Caroline said, "Shouldn't we tell Stefan?"

**...**

Ten minutes after Stefan had arrived and they explained the situation to him, he still had not stopped laughing.

"I'm sorry," he gasped, waving a hand as he tried to control himself, "I'm sorry it's just - it's just - hahaha... It's just that of all the grand karmic reprisals I imagined befalling my brother over the years, this one honestly never... ahaha it just never occurred to me."

Hunched forward on the couch, he giggled some more sporadically as he wiped at his eyes.

Seated on the armchair watching this, Elena sighed. It really wasn't helping. From his perch on the back of the couch, the frog formerly known as Damon was eyeing his mirthful brother as if contemplating how best to bring about his bloody demise. Or possibly how to wield a stake with very small frog-feet.

As she watched, he poised himself carefully then jumped, landing with unerring accuracy on the top of Stefan's head.

Before anyone else had a chance to react Elena lunged over and scooped him up out of Stefan's hair. Her quick reflexes seemed to surprise everyone, including herself, but she was too busy giving Damon a warning look to acknowledge it.

"Stop attacking people," she told him firmly as she set him down again on the back of the couch.. "You're four inches long, it's absurd. Just be patient, okay, and we'll figure this out."

Whether it was her words or Damon's kamikaze act, Stefan seemed to sober. "Just tell me, how sure are we really that it's him?" he said.

They'd already gotten Damon to respond to his name, and he had even answered various questions by either bobbing his head up and down for yes, or shaking it for no. What else could they do to prove it?

Stefan continued. "I'm just saying, magic doesn't always work the way you think it does. Bonnie, what if you sent Damon somewhere else, and brought a frog - some random ordinary frog - here in his place?"

"Didn't you see the cute little nodding?" Caroline said. "We said 'are you Damon' like thirty times already."

"I know how we can be sure," Bonnie said. She was over by the window, arms wrapped around herself miserably. But now as everyone looked at her she straightened with resolve. "I have to touch it. Him. It shouldn't make any difference what form he takes, if it's him I should be able to get something. I mean I didn't before when I was carrying him, but I was kind of panicking. It can't hurt to try, right?"

She moved away from the window and approached the couch. Tentatively, she held out her hand, hesitating at the last second. "Don't try anything," she warned the frog. The frog looked menacingly back at her, but didn't move. Finally Bonnie took a breath and rested her fingertips on his back. Immediately she gasped and pulled away. "Yeah, that's Damon. And he's really, really pissed."

"Can you really blame him?" Elena couldn't help saying as she walked round behind the couch to join Bonnie. "Look, I believe that you didn't mean for this to happen, and I know you're going to do everything you can to figure this out and change him back - we'll all help you. I just can't help thinking about what it must be like for him." She looked down at the frog sitting there on top of the couch. He was watching the exchange with interest. "He must be so freaked out."

If there was one thing she knew about Damon, it was that he hated to be vulnerable in any way. Right now he was tiny and helpless, he couldn't even speak let alone do anything to fix the situation - it had to be his worst nightmare come true.

Damon hopped suddenly, in that alarming, springy way he had, and landed on her shoulder. She froze, stifling the urge to cringe at the slightly weird feeling of him crawling on her. It was just a frog. She had nothing against frogs.

Leaving aside, of course, the fact that what it _actually_ was, was a small, frog-shaped Damon who was sitting on her shoulder. Whatever. She could deal.

"Okay, look," Bonnie said, "I need to sit down and think about this somewhere quiet."

"You can go up to my room," Elena suggested.

"Wait," Stefan said, standing up as Bonnie was about to leave the room. "How long do you think this is going to take?"

Bonnie shrugged apologetically. "I don't know, I still haven't even figured out what I did, yet."

"All right, I guess I'll um, why don't I take, uh," he gestured to the frog and for a second looked like he was about to laugh again, "I'll take him home. You can call us when you have something."

But Damon clung stubbornly to her shirt, refusing to let go when she gently tried to lift him off.

Stefan rolled his eyes. "All right, Damon, I'm sorry I laughed. Like you wouldn't do the same if our positions were reversed?"

Damon crawled from her shoulder around behind her neck, hiding amongst her hair as she valiantly fought the need to shriek like a girl because _there was a frog in her hair_.

"Aw, you think he's scared? What? You have been known to eat small animals," Caroline pointed out.

Stefan looked offended. "Not frogs. They're cold-blooded. And... kind of creepy. Anyway, Damon knows I wouldn't hurt him. Right, Damon? You're not scared. Just because you're hiding out in poor Elena's hair right now, I'm sure that means nothing.

There was another darting flash of green as the small frog leaped out from behind Elena's neck.

Stefan caught him mid-flight.

"Damon," he said after a moment, "Please stop biting me." With a sigh, he held out his hand, from which Damon was hanging by his mouth. "You know what, maybe it would be best if he stays here with you."

Elena was not convinced. "You think that's a good idea?"

"Well he's not attacking _you_ with his tiny, inefficient frog teeth, so let's just go with it."

"Okay," she agreed uncertainly. She held out her hand and Damon released the bite-hold he had on Stefan's finger, dropping easily into her palm.

"This way if Bonnie figures it out, she can cast the spell right away and this will all be over." Stefan wasn't looking at her as he inspected the tiny tooth-marks imprinted in his skin.

"Maybe he just misses being a vampire," Elena offered.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it," Stefan said wryly before turning to go.

* * *

**...**

_Have you ever been bitten by a frog? I have! Next chapter: the whole princess/frog/kissing thing is addressed.__  
_


	3. Chapter 3

**_The Miss Mystic Falls Runner-Up and the Frog_**

**_part three  
_**

_**...**_

After Stefan left, Elena found herself breathing a little easier. With everything that was going on, they couldn't just go back to how things had been, but at the same time she didn't know how to be around him when they weren't exactly together.

Thankfully there was this whole frog situation to deal with, so she didn't have to feel weird and awkward (and feel guilty about feeling weird and awkward) for long.

"Okay, I'm going to go upstairs, and work on this," Bonnie said following Stefan's departure.

And then it was just Elena and Caroline. They both looked down at Damon, who was sitting in Elena's hand. She was almost getting used to handling him. She'd never given much thought to what holding a frog would feel like, but she would have assumed they were all slimy and rubbery. Damon-the-frog was just kind of soft, and a bit squishy, but not as gross as she'd first feared.

"So I guess we're on frog-sitting duty," Caroline said after a moment.

"You think we should feed him or something?" Elena said doubtfully.

"Do not look at me, I don't do bugs."

"You can hunt and kill a bunny rabbit but not a few flies?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Big help, Caroline."

"Look, okay, frogs live in like ponds and swamps, right? Maybe he needs water. I could totally do water."

"To drink, or to swim in?"

"Both? Like I'm an expert on frogs suddenly? I don't know."

"Well, okay, it's probably a good idea." Or the best one they had, anyway.

In the kitchen she found the stopper for the sink and filled it with a few inches of water.

Damon gave her what she interpreted as a dubious look with his large eyes as she pulled him away from her sleeve and held him over the sink. "It's your natural environment, probably. Just try it."

She dropped him in the water, and she and Caroline stood there for a few minutes, watching as he paddled around.

Beside her, Caroline twitched.

A few seconds passed and there was another twitch, more noticeable this time.

After that there was a muffled snort, and then Caroline was clapping both hands over her mouth before turning and fleeing the room.

"Caroline!" Elena called, following her friend's hasty retreat.

She found her by the foot of the stairs, leaning on the banister as she laughed so hard she wasn't even making any sound.

It was contagious; Elena found herself smiling as she tried to get Caroline to explain. "What is it? What?" she laughed

"I - hnh - Bonnie - and - he -" was as far as she got.

"Maybe try a whole sentence?"

Caroline swallowed down hard on another giggle fit and tried again. "Bonnie turned him into a _frog_, Elena. A frog! Like some wicked witch in a kid's story! Oh my god, and he's so _cute_ - with his little feet and his big googly eyes? And it's _Damon_ and it's just killing me not to laugh like every five seconds so I just, I just need a minute, okay? I want to help but there's only so much I can take."

"Caroline -" She couldn't help it, she was laughing in earnest too, now. It _was_ funny. She really did feel bad for Damon, going through this, but that didn't change the fact that it was completely hilarious.

"But we just can't - we shouldn't laugh like this in front of Damon," Caroline added.

"No," she agreed. "That'd be kind of mean."

"Like of course it's all well and good for Stefan to completely crack up about this, god knows the boy could stand to lighten the mood for once - but even Damon won't kill his own brother. Me, on the other hand, he barely tolerates on a good day. And he is going to be so way beyond cranky when he turns back, and I really don't want any of that directed at me."

Elena sobered. It suddenly wasn't so funny any more. "You know Damon wouldn't hurt you, not now."

"I'd rather not risk it. Though I guess it's okay for me, I'm not the one who did this to him."

"He's not going to hurt Bonnie, either," she said firmly. Not if she had anything to say about it, anyway. "We won't let him."

"Right, well, thank god for all of us we've got you around, Elena."

She frowned, not liking what Caroline was implying, but not really knowing how to argue the point, either. She sighed. "We should go check on him."

"Maybe he'll be the first frog in history to drown, and solve all our problems. Or one problem, anyway."

"Caroline."

"On the other hand, I guess this is more entertaining than my Spanish homework."

They went back into the kitchen and stood over the sink again to see Damon performing a melancholy breaststroke from one side to the other.

Elena pressed her lips together, stifling a giggle. Caroline nudged her. Together they turned away.

"Not helping."

"No."

**...**

"So if Bonnie's the wicked witch," Caroline said a few minutes later as they sat in the kitchen, still waiting for Bonnie, "I guess it's a shame Damon doesn't have a fairy godmother. Or a princess to kiss. Elena! You should totally kiss him, so many fairytales can't all be wrong."

"You know, normally I'd say, 'no that's silly', but I think we passed the point of silly a while ago."

"No, wait. Hang on, you can't kiss him."

"Well, I really doubt it would work, anyway."

Caroline waved a hand. "No, I mean - the movie, don't you remember? We saw it together opening weekend. When Tiana kisses the frog, she gets turned into a frog, too!"

"Yeah, I don't think that will happen."

"Nothing will happen," Bonnie said. They both looked over as she entered the room. "This is real life, not a fairytale, guys. It's my spell, a kiss won't work to reverse it, even if you were a princess, Elena. Sorry, it's not going to be quite that easy."

"Tell me you can do something, though," Elena said.

She held out a notepad she'd been using to organise her thoughts. "Okay, look, I'm pretty sure these are the words I spoke: '_pri-_'"

"Hey!" Caroline yelped, cutting her off before she got more than a syllable out. "Don't just go _saying_ it, Bonnie, jeez."

"They're just words, Caroline. You have to direct the power to make it work. You have to _have_ the power in the first place."

"Whatever. Let's just not risk it, okay?"

"Fine. I'm just saying, I think I'm ready to try."

Elena jumped out of her chair. "That's great, where should we do it?"

"Somewhere with enough space for him to get a lot bigger, suddenly."

"How about the backyard?"

"We were outside when we did the first spell, so that might actually help."

"Did you hear that?" Elena said, leaning over the sink and reaching in to pick Damon up out of the water. "Bonnie's ready to try the reversal spell." Frog in hand, she lead the way to the back door.

She glanced back at Bonnie, who was following more slowly. She looked kind of anxious. "Bonnie?" Elena prompted.

"No, I'm ready. It's not that complicated. I did it, I can undo it. Shouldn't be a problem."

**...**

It didn't work.

Three times Bonnie tried, each time with no result at all other than Damon growing more visibly agitated and Bonnie becoming increasingly baffled by what was - or rather, wasn't - happening.

It wasn't her powers - as a test, she easily made a bunch of dead leaves hover in mid-air with her mind. But the spell to return Damon to his normal self just wasn't working.

Bonnie didn't seem to have any answers and was getting frustrated and upset after a while.

Damon didn't seem to be doing much better - although there were no sudden leaps at anyone's jugulars, which somehow made it worse. If he wasn't even lashing out he had to be feeling pretty hopeless by now.

"It's okay," Elena said finally, knowing they weren't getting anywhere. "Look, Jenna will be home soon, so... I don't think we'll get this fixed tonight. Why don't you guys go home? We'll try again tomorrow. I mean, maybe you're just tired, Bonnie, you've been doing a lot of magic lately."

She nodded reluctantly. "I'll work some more on the spell tonight - go over everything. Maybe there's something I missed."

"And I'll..." Caroline shrugged. "I'll be rooting for you? There's really not much for me to do in this situation."

"Sorry," Bonnie tossed Damon's way, nervously, as they all got to their feet.

Elena picked him up to take him back inside, pausing to drop him back in the sink as they passed by the kitchen. "Don't worry, it's just for one night," she told him before making her way through to the living room where Caroline was gathering her things together.

She saw the two girls out, and had just returned to pick up her own homework stuff which was still strewn around the couch and coffee table when the front door opened again. This time, it was Jenna and Jeremy coming in.

"Hey," Jenna greeted her, "We just saw Caroline and Bonnie leaving."

"Uh, yeah, study session," she said.

"What do you feel like for dinner?" her aunt continued, as she made her way into the kitchen.

Too late, Elena realised what was about to happen.

There was a yelp of surprise from Jenna. Elena was already moving before Jenna came hurrying out around the counter. "Elena? Why is there a frog in the kitchen sink?"

Elena opened her mouth and paused. Why was there a frog in the kitchen sink? "Because... of a school project. Biology."

Jenna obviously wasn't convinced, but then a knowing look crossed her face and she winked exaggeratedly. "Oh, you know I had a project like that in tenth grade science - just please don't get suspended for liberating future dissection specimens like I did. By which of course I mean, don't get caught. Way to have principles, Elena." She smiled proudly. "But maybe you could move the little guy to the bathroom?"

"Um, sure. Don't worry, it's just for tonight. I was thinking I'd find somewhere nice along the river to let him go tomorrow."

"Okay, well I'm going to start dinner. I'm thinking it's a mac-and-cheese kind of night, just warning you. Although, actually, I might clean the sink, first."

"Sorry." She hurried over to retrieve Damon, carrying the dripping amphibian in both hands as she headed for the stairs.

She ran right into Jeremy.

He eyed her suspiciously. "Frog liberation?"

"Can I explain later? Kind of busy here."

"Yeah, looks like he's trying to make a getaway."

Damon was struggling in her hands and she hurried up the stairs, into her room, and deposited him on the bed. "What? What's wrong?" she demanded, as if he could answer.

"I know this is frustrating for you, but don't worry, okay? Bonnie will fix the spell, and you'll be back to normal in no time." She didn't know why she felt such a need to reassure him. She'd felt oddly protective ever since first seeing him like this. She didn't want to question it too much, simply adding, "You have to know we won't leave you like this."

The frog just sat there on her bedspread. He looked depressed, she thought. Or maybe hungry?

"All right. Why don't l open the window, maybe you could try and catch a moth or something." She just shrugged when he eyeballed her indignantly, and went to open the window. "You drink blood, don't even try to tell me you're too picky for a bug or two."

She turned back, facing the room. She'd left her books in the living room, and didn't feel like going all the way back downstairs for them. But she had a report to work on for English and all she needed for that was her laptop, which was charging on the floor. She grabbed it and sat with one leg tucked under her on the window seat, laptop open in front of her, and got to work.

Belatedly she looked up. "I have homework to do," she told Damon. "You'll just have to entertain yourself, sorry."

Somehow she managed to concentrate on what she was doing - English was her favourite subject, so that helped - and it was some time later that she looked up briefly and realised the frog was nowhere in sight.

"Damon?" she called, checking behind her and down on the floor beside her. She shook her head before returning to her work, muttering, "You better not be in my underwear draw again."

Suddenly the frog landed on her leg, making her jump. As if she needed more proof that he was, indeed, Damon Salvatore, there it was.

"Did you need something?" she asked dryly, as he crawled to her knee and then flopped to the seat in front of her. He made his way forward until he was climbing onto the laptop.

She sat back, hands away from the keyboard, as she realised what he was doing. He was typing. It was a slow, laborious process, as he worked to hit one key correctly at a time without landing on any others. Eventually he managed to relay a simple message.

**th is s7ux**

'This sucks', she interpreted. She sighed. "I know, I'm sorry."

"Elena! Come down, dinner's ready!" Jenna suddenly yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"I have to go," she said reluctantly. "But you can keep using my laptop, I'll be back in a little while. And seriously think about the insect thing - just don't fall out the window. Or get picked off by an owl or something."

Half an hour later when she returned from eating dinner and helping clean up afterward, he had a new message waiting for her on the screen, this time in carefully written, bold capslock:

**I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY KISSING ME.**

"What? Damon, this isn't a Disney movie," she told him, retaking her seat. He continued to regard her with his huge, judging, frog eyes. She sighed. What would it hurt? "Fine, whatever, but it won't work."

She held out her hand, and once he had crawled on eagerly she brought him up near her face. "If I turn into a frog too, I'm going to kill you," she told him. And then she lightly pecked his cold little head.

She quickly deposited him on the floor, and waited to see if anything happened.

It didn't.

After a moment, Damon hopped back up to side of her leg, crawling from there up to the seat and back to the keyboard. Instead of starting a new message he pressed on the backspace button until most of the previous line was erased so that it just read, 'I CAN'T BELIEVE'. Then he started typing again.

She watched, fascinated, to see what he was writing this time. Eventually the new message read:

**I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WORKED**

She frowned. "It didn't work."

**ORLY**, Damon typed.

"What -" she paused. Her jaw dropped. "Did you just do that to get me to kiss you?"

She didn't know how a frog managed to smirk, but manage it, he did.

"That's it, you're going in the bathroom."

**...**

She tried to get back to her homework but was finding it difficult to concentrate.

The truth was, she was a little worried about the situation. What if Bonnie couldn't reverse the spell? Damon couldn't live as a frog forever, it was too cruel. Maybe for now he was as much his old, irritating self as ever, but that wouldn't last.

What were they going to do if they really couldn't turn him back?

She had no answers. She was kind of feeling a little bad about locking Damon in the bathroom, however. Although it was easier to finish her report without Damon hogging the keyboard.

Some time later there was a commotion from the other side of the bathroom door. Jeremy was in there, by the sound of it. She was just getting up when the door handle rattled and then he knocked.

"Elena, your crazy frog just attacked me! I need to pee, man, it's late and I shouldn't have to deal with this."

She unlocked the door and opened it to find Jeremy looking annoyed, with Damon hanging off the front of his t-shirt.

"Fine, I'll take him. Sorry."

She didn't even have to reach out, Damon just crossed the distance between her and Jeremy with a nonchalant leap. He quickly tangled himself in her hair, apparently his favourite thing to do now.

Jeremy's eyes narrowed. "It's not a normal frog, is it?"

"Um, not really."

"Do I need to know about this?"

Damon bit her ear. Wincing, she yanked him out of her hair. "How about once it's over I'll tell you and we'll really laugh about it." She gave Damon a pointed stare, daring him to bite her again.

Jeremy sighed. "Whatever."

When they were alone again, Elena put Damon back down on the window seat and straightened, hands on her hips.

"I know you're upset," she said, "But there's really not much we can do tonight. I'm going to go to bed, okay?"

But he was already back at the laptop, starting a new message. The process took a while so she went to grab pyjamas and took her turn in the bathroom after Jeremy was done.

The words on the screen when she came back over to look were surprising.

**I KNOW Y SPELL DIDNT WORK**

She stared at him. "You do? Wait, is that why you bugged Jeremy, so he'd bring you in here?"

He was already typing again. He was actually getting faster as he had more practice at it, and it wasn't long before she read:

**WITCH IS AFRAID**

"'Witch is afraid?'" she repeated. "Bonnie's afraid? Why do you think that?

**OF ME**

"She's afraid of you." She thought back to her conversation with Caroline and understood what he was saying. "She's afraid of what you'll do when you're back to normal again?" His small head bobbed up and down for yes. "But what does that have to do with the spell? Unless... Oh." Slowly she reached out and moved him off the keyboard so she could close the laptop. "It's okay, I understand. And you know what you need to do, right?"

He nodded once more. Then he moved close to her hand and bit lightly at her thumb. She didn't know if that was meant to seem as affectionate as it did, or if he was merely trying to prompt her into action right then and there, she wasn't sure.

"Tomorrow, okay? A cranky, sleep-deprived witch is not your friend right now. I'm going to go to sleep." She went to turn down the covers and climbed in.

She checked quickly for Damon again but saw he hadn't moved from his spot on the window seat, watching her.

She turned off the light.

"Good night, Damon," she said.

It was a strange thing, but she felt oddly comforted knowing he was there watching over her, even now.


	4. Chapter 4

_**The Miss Mystic Falls Runner-Up and the Frog**_

_**part four**_

**...  
**

A frog croaking loudly and repeatedly two inches from your ear had to be one of the worst ways to be woken up in the morning.

He waited impatiently on her pillow as she slowly sat up, pushing her hair back behind her ear and peering blearily at the clock beside her bed. It was Saturday, so she hadn't set her alarm, but it was still eight-thirty on the dot - apparently the limit of how long Damon was willing to let her sleep before giving her a wake-up call.

She yawned, rubbing at her face.

He croaked again. She turned to glare at him. "Okay, I'm up."

She took her phone from the night stand and sent a quick text to Bonnie, asking her to call her back. Then she climbed out of bed and found clothes for the day before heading into the bathroom - pausing briefly in the doorway to shake off Damon, who was attempting to hitch a ride on the leg of her pyjama pants.

"_Privacy__,_" she growled down at him, leaving him there on the floor as she went into the bathroom and firmly shut the door.

After freshening up, changing, and brushing her hair, she felt slightly more awake and slightly less like stepping on her temporary room mate.

First she ventured out into the hall, finding the house quiet and Jenna's bedroom empty. Jenna usually went to the gym on Saturday mornings, although this would be the first time since her injury and hospital stay courtesy of Katherine. She hoped Jenna was taking it easy, but at the same time, it was good not to have to answer any more questions about the whole frog situation.

"Coast's clear," she announced as she came back in the room. She retrieved both frog and her phone, which she checked for new messages as she headed downstairs. There was no answering text from Bonnie, and so she tried calling her as she waited on the coffee machine in the kitchen. The number rang for a while before going through to voicemail.

"I guess she hasn't gotten up yet," she said, looking down at him out of the corner of her eye. He had quickly scaled her sleeve to reclaim his spot on her shoulder for the trip from her bedroom. She wondered why he liked it there so much - whether it was because it made a good viewing station, or if some vampiric tendency of his just liked being near her neck. "I'll try calling again later," she added.

The coffee was ready by then and she poured herself a cup and sipped at the scalding liquid gratefully as she contemplated breakfast.

She had just set her mug down and was opening the refrigerator when, in an unlikely move, Damon somehow seemed to become caught in her necklace while traversing from one shoulder to the other. She was trying to help untangle him when he suddenly dropped down her chest, scrabbled briefly at the neckline of her tank top, and managed to flip himself inside.

"Damon! God!" she yelped, plucking him from where he was flailing about in her cleavage. She set him firmly down on the kitchen island and pointed a warning finger at him. "Don't even try to pretend that was an accident. No more free rides for you."

That was it, she officially wanted Damon back to normal just as much, if not more, than he did.

She eyed him warily as she took out her phone again. "You win, okay? I'll get Bonnie over here."

When Bonnie failed to pick up a second time, she called Caroline instead.

Caroline answered right away, and her first words were, "So how's it going with Project Kermit?"

Although the name was enough to make her smile, still she gave in to the urge to groan in frustration. "Just great. I'm starting to have a new appreciation for those 'frog in a blender' jokes."

"No way, is that cute little guy giving you trouble, Elena? Do I even want to know?"

She narrowed her eyes at the cute little guy in question, and said, "He's turning out to be as much fun to deal with as regular Damon."

"That bad?"

She sighed, mollified now that she'd vented a little. She reached over to retrieve her coffee. "Actually, we kind of had a breakthrough, which is why I'm calling. I think I know what went wrong with the spell last night. Bonnie's not answering her phone, so could you go to her house and bring her over here?"

"Sure, she's probably just sleeping in; the last text I got from her was kind of late last night. So what went wrong with the spell, anyway?"

"It will be easier to explain once you guys get here. It was actually Damon's idea."

"What do you mean, Damon's idea? Are you a frog whisperer now?"

"Long story. Actually, no it's not. Turns out frogs can type, who knew? Just go get Bonnie, will you? Damon wants to be big again and I'm... in danger of really becoming a frog whisperer here. Or a frog murderer."

"Yay, I get to toss Bonnie out of bed first thing on a Saturday morning. I get all the fun jobs."

"Thanks, Caroline."

"Yeah, I'll see you, if she doesn't turn me into a frog, too."

Elena ended the call with a sigh, turning to look down at her small companion. He was sitting there watching her, the very picture of innocence, as if he hadn't taken a nose-dive down her top three minutes ago. He was probably just happy to have gotten his own way. Not to mention having copped a feel.

"I think we're going to need more coffee," she said.

**...**

It was well after nine when her friends arrived. Elena let them in and brought them over to the kitchen table, where they all took seats, with Damon as centrepiece.

Elena nodded to the shopping bag Bonnie had been carrying, which she set down on the table. "What's in the bag?"

"Oh, it's Damon's clothes," she explained. "It was all still lying outside my house when I got home last night - lucky, because I'm sure he wants his phone and car keys and stuff back. Not to mention his ring." She paused and looked around. "Isn't anyone else around?"

"It's okay. Saturday mornings Jenna has a yoga class, and Jeremy always sleeps till like eleven, so we've effectively got the place to ourselves for a while."

"Okay, so tell me what it is you found out about the spell."

"What Damon found out," Caroline corrected her. "She said Damon told her about it."

Elena shrugged. "He typed some stuff on my laptop."

"Wow," Bonnie said, "I guess it was really killing him, not being able to talk."

She laughed at that, but then she looked down at Damon, who was tensing up as if he might start biting again at any second, and she continued quickly. "Anyway, Bonnie, about the spell. He thinks, well, that you're afraid of him. That he might... try to hurt you once you turn him back. And maybe that's why the spell didn't work."

"He doesn't scare me."

"Yes, he does, Bonnie. And the feeling's mutual. The two of you hate each other. And isn't it possible that on some level you didn't really want the spell to work? He can't hurt anyone like this. Maybe, subconsciously...?"

Bonnie frowned down at the table for a moment, before lifting her eyes to meet Elena's. She could tell Bonnie was afraid it might be true. "But I really did try to make it work last night."

"We know," Caroline jumped in. "Hey, no one blames you for having a strong sense of self-preservation. So, what do we do now?"

"Now Damon promises not to lay so much as a finger on you. Which he wasn't going to anyway," Elena added fiercely as she stared at him, "But now you can be sure of it."

Bonnie looked doubtful. "Like he's really going to just forgive me for this? I wouldn't."

"For the record, Bonnie, me either," Caroline said emphatically. "Please don't ever turn me into anything weird, or I swear I'm never speaking to you again."

The three girls looked at the frog.

"Maybe not forgive," Elena said slowly. "But maybe let it go? Damon, you promise not to hurt Bonnie, right?"

She waited for him to nod his assent, but he didn't move. He was watching Bonnie with shrewd eyes.

"Damon -"

"Wait." Bonnie's hand on her arm forestalled what Elena had been about to say. "I think I have to say something." Whatever it was, it was hard for her to get out. Bonnie closed her eyes and said reluctantly, "I'm sorry, Damon, okay? I... You were horrible to me yesterday, you were mean, and a complete jerk, but you didn't hurt me - you didn't even threaten me. Doing this to you, it was... unwarranted. Worse, it was a completely irresponsible use of my powers. If Grams was still alive she would want to smack me so hard for this. And you know exactly how I feel about you, so you know how hard it is for me to admit that I was wrong."

Elena was stunned silent for a moment. Bonnie had apologised to _Damon_, that was huge for her.

"Damon," Elena prompted after a moment, "Do you accept her apology? Keep in mind that if you don't, she might never feel secure enough to reverse the spell."

Instead of indicating a yes, Damon hopped towards Bonnie, landing beside her hand. He sat, waiting. Bonnie obliged, turning her hand over to touch him and closing her eyes.

Then Bonnie smiled slightly. "I guess we'll call it even?" she said with a small shrug as she broke the connection.

Caroline said, "So it's okay? No murderous rampage once he's all big and scary again?"

Bonnie shook her head, her answer firm. "No, he wouldn't be able to hide those kinds of intentions."

"Way to be the bigger man, Damon," Caroline said. "Bigger frog, whatever. So, let's do this. Elena?"

Elena didn't respond immediately, too caught up in her thoughts at what she had just witnessed. That Bonnie, who blatantly despised Damon, could reach some sort of peace with him, and that Damon could go through something like this and not want to kill the person responsible - it struck a chord within her.

For a time now Elena had been so sure that all Damon's second chances had run out when he snapped and killed Jeremy that day. But her trust in him had been so damaged by that one defining act, that it was really the only possible conclusion for her to reach. What was broken between them couldn't be fixed.

Now here they were, and it was like she was the last one holding out in the face of Damon forging his own second chance whether she liked it or not. Bonnie, Caroline, Jeremy, even Alaric, all of them had been hurt by Damon, and all of them had accepted him to one degree or another. Suddenly her hurt feelings didn't seem like a good enough reason to keep him at a distance. Especially since, if she was honest with herself, she'd been slowly, reluctantly, working her way back to him for a while now.

It was a quiet decision, made quietly in her own head. And somewhere in her chest, something eased as she forgave Damon.

"Elena?" Bonnie said.

"Yeah, I'm ready." She reached over and gave Damon's soft, green head a brief stroke with her finger. If he thought she'd merely gotten over the hard time he'd been giving her this morning, that was okay. "Good luck," she said, before getting to her feet. "So Bonnie, just like last night? I guess we go back outside again."

"Yeah, if we can." Bonnie pushed herself up from the table.

Beside her Caroline rose with a flourish. "Wow, you guys should be so glad I'm here. We can't do it outside. It's daytime? The sun? The goal is to turn him back into a vampire, hopefully?"

Elena's eyes widened. "Right. That could have been bad."

"Uh-huh." Caroline reached out her hand to Damon, and he crawled on board. "Humans, am I right?"

**...**

In the end they just put him down in the middle of the living room rug, once they'd shifted the coffee table over into the corner. Bonnie stood over him, while Elena and Caroline watched from the other side of the couch, everyone mentally crossing their fingers.

"Here goes nothing," Bonnie muttered, then she took a few deep, calming breaths, and finally started to chant quietly.

Elena held her breath as she stared at Damon's tense little form on the floor. At first, nothing happened, and she was afraid they'd been completely wrong about the reason for last night's failure.

Then it all happened at once. Damon went rigid, an unseen force wracking through his tiny body. There was a flash of blinding light that seemed to set Elena's teeth on edge to witness, and when her vision finally cleared there was no longer a small green frog on her living room floor. There was a big, naked man.

Damon lay flat on his face, unmoving. Then suddenly he groaned and pushed himself onto his elbows, then rolled onto his back. He squinted up at the ceiling for a moment.

"I hope one of you thought to bring me something to eat," he said in a voice rough with disuse.

"No, sorry, but we brought you pants," Caroline offered cheerily, moving to the kitchen table to fetch them.

"How do you feel?" Elena said, keeping her eyes carefully on his face.

He sat up, then slowly climbed to his feet. Elena's eyes went wide before she managed to drop them to the couch between them.

"How do I feel?" he said. "Well, I don't feel like swimming is the answer to all life's problems. That's something. Next time I piss you off, just kill me."

This last part was directed at Bonnie, who replied with a smirk, "It's a deal."

"Shake on it?" He stepped forward, holding out his hand, but Bonnie was slow to respond. "No, you're right, handshake is so impersonal; come on, let's hug it out."

He wrapped his arms around Bonnie before she could protest, though Elena could see her attempting to shrink away in horror as Damon patted her heartily on the back.

"You realise you're naked right now, right?" Bonnie said tightly, her eyes squeezed shut.

Smirking, Damon released her and she turned away with a shudder.

Damon, on the other hand, stretched expansively, arms over his head, circling to face the other two. "Hugs all round?"

Caroline threw his jeans at his head; he caught them easily.

Elena was still busy averting her eyes.

"Come on," he drawled, in a tone she knew was meant just for her, "You've been looking at my bare ass for the past day. Suddenly it's no good? Prefer the green, huh." He turned in place, helpfully offering her a comparative view.

It was a little difficult to reconcile this Damon and the small, helpless one she had carried around everywhere and allowed in her bedroom while she slept. But they were one and the same, and really, that was the point.

She shook her head. "Just get dressed, Damon."

"Tough audience," he muttered.

"I'm going now," Bonnie announced. "God knows what I'll turn him into if I stay any longer."

"Guess that means I'm going, too," Caroline said, fishing her car keys from her pocket.

Damon, taking his time with his pants, paused to point at Bonnie. "My car's still at your place, right? Didn't have it towed or anything?"

"If I'm giving you a ride to Bonnie's, you should know that no one's bare butt goes anywhere near my car," Caroline said pointedly.

"You should be so lucky. No, I... think I'll swing by and pick it up later. I'm in no hurry."

Elena could feel it as his eyes came back to rest on her - as _everyone_ in the room looked at her to judge her reaction. "I'll see you guys later," she said evenly, reassuring them with a quick smile. Focused on her friends, she didn't miss the glance they exchanged before heading out the door.

"Caroline, Bonnie, _always_ a pleasure," Damon called after them.

The front door closed, silence reigning once they were alone.

She carefully continued to focus on anything in the room but Damon until she heard him zipping up. Then she looked over to find him searching through the bag Bonnie had brought. He finally found what he was looking for, sliding his ring back in place with a glad sigh.

"And _now_, I feel better," he said, pulling a long-sleeved t-shirt from the bag. He quickly finished dressing - jacket, shoes, sliding keys and phone into pockets. "Except for the part where I could eat several fat, hairy truck drivers with questionable personal hygiene right now, no problems. I should... probably go home and take care of that."

"I could drive you," she said, self-conscious as soon as the words left her mouth because he'd just turned down a ride from Caroline two minutes ago.

"Think I'll walk. It's kind of cool being able to do that without flopping all over the place. Hundred and seventy years I've been around, never gave much thought to the topic of frogs." He approached her slowly as he spoke, coming to prop himself casually against the back of the couch. "Frogs are kind of lame. Forget the muppet-like coordination, they don't have external genitalia. Yeah, didn't think about that one, did you? I did. A lot. Sure, laugh it up. You drool in your sleep, you know."

She was grinning broadly by now. "No, I don't."

"Thanks for taking care of me," he added more hesitantly. "That must have been weird for you."

"Not half as weird as it must have been for you."

There was a pause. "It was pretty weird for me."

"Yeah."

"There's something different about you," he said suddenly, straightening. For a moment she wondered how he knew - was her change in attitude that obvious? Had she been that cold to him before now? But whether he guessed the truth or not, his next words were mocking. "Oh, I know what it is. You kissed me. Now we're in that awkward, morning-after place, right?"

She rolled her eyes as she tried not to smile. She'd forgiven him; he hadn't suddenly become less annoying. "You tricked me into kissing you."

"Is that what happened?"

"You were a _frog_, Damon. I was just trying to help." This was going nowhere useful, and so she turned away from him and moved towards the front door, in the hopes that he'd follow. But she stopped as she reached the entryway because not only had he followed, she knew he'd flashed across the short distance to her; she could feel him there right behind her, invading her personal space. Face set, she turned slowly to face him.

"You sure about that?" he said, peering down at her with his hands behind his back, a superior look on his face. "You sure that somewhere deep down, the part of you that owns both Titanic and The Notebook on dvd, the part of you that believes in soulmates and has read Wuthering Heights nine times, that part of you didn't think for even a second that just maybe you were my princess? That one magical kiss from those perfect rose-petal lips could have the power to transform me back into the handsome stud you see before you?"

_Perfect__ rose__-__petal __lips__?_ Her mouth worked soundlessly for a moment. "...No."

"Oh. So it was purely for your own benefit, then." She gaped at him as he went on. "No, hey listen, any time you want to go again -"

She threw up her hands. "You got me. I couldn't resist you. It was that cold, clammy, green skin, gets me every time."

He just smirked at her outburst. "You know, you shouldn't get too caught up in this whole kissing thing."

"I _wasn__'__t_. You're the one who keeps talking about it."

His grin widened, eyebrows deftly in play as he added, "Especially since we got to second base this morning and that was much more exciting." But then, in one of those whiplash-fast changes in demeanour in which he specialised, he became serious suddenly. The look on his face cut off her retort before she had time to think of one. "You never needed to kiss me, Elena," he told her, smiling lightly yet sincerely, "You've already worked your magic on me. And it's the kind of thing that can't be undone."

He nodded once, apparently satisfied that he'd inspired the resulting stunned silence. "I'll be going now. I've gotta go... kick Stefan's ass. It's a brother thing - he laughs at my misfortune, I punch him in the face, he'll feel neglected if I don't."

"Damon..."

"Break his kneecaps?"

"I..."

"Just one?"

"I'm... glad you're back to normal," she blurted, and lunged for the door, opening it and holding it there for him in an unspoken suggestion for him to leave before he did or said anything to make her any more embarrassed or uncomfortable or too hot in her own skin. "Bye, Damon."

She avoided his eyes, knowing he would be regarding her with amusement or fondness or something else entirely.

"I'll see you around. Oh," he paused on the threshold, leaning back in as she clutched at the door tightly, "Did I mention you talk in your sleep?"

"What?"

Her eyes shot up to his but he just reached for the door and pulled it shut after him, leaving her there alone to convince herself that he had to be joking. Had to be.

**…**

On Elena's porch, Damon contemplated the mid-morning sun.

It had only been yesterday afternoon that he'd been standing on another porch, taunting a powerful witch with words designed to hurt, in what had been one of the more stupid moves of his long life. And now here he was, one completely bizarre experience, and one extremely interesting encounter with Elena, behind him.

She was still there, just on the other side of the door; he could hear her breathing, her blood rushing in her veins. And he really was hungry, and that usually made him cranky, but right now he just felt kind of elated. Because it was good to be a vampire and because right now it definitely didn't suck to be him.

Here was the thing. He had given Elena up, and was working on being okay with that to varying levels of success, but couldn't ignore how the game potentially changed if _she_ hadn't given up on him. He was trying not to be selfish, but he was no martyr.

As a frog his senses had been seriously limited to the extent that being able to stick to things with his feet and having the ability to lick his own eyeballs really couldn't make up for. Forget how happy he was to have his penis back where it belonged - _so_ happy - he couldn't know then what he knew now.

Like how her eyes had dropped momentarily to his lips every time he mentioned her kissing him. Like how her cheeks had coloured slightly with warmth when he told her, with simple honesty, that she'd been the source of change in him whether she liked it or not. And then her mouth had twitched up like she wanted to smile.

Being a small frog in a very big world forced one hell of a change in perspective, driving home just how much the little things really mattered. Yes it was seriously great being a vampire again, and Damon walked away from Elena's door with a new kind of spring in his step.

The end.


End file.
